ASUS has launched a new card to perch atop of its Nvidia GPU based STRIX range. The ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti STRIX Gaming Ice graphics card has just been listed on the firm's Chinese site at the time of writing. The card is liquid cooled, utilising a Bitspower water block, and features an RGB illuminated STRIX gaming logo.
This Nvidia Maxwell GM200 based graphics card offers the core specifications you would expect from a GTX 980 Ti ; with 2816 CUDA cores, 176 TMUs and 96 ROPs. Not forgetting that users benefit from 6GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus. As you would expect, thanks to the factory fitted liquid cooling solution, ASUS can tune up the clock speeds on offer.
ASUS provides the GTX 980 Ti STRIX Gaming Ice graphics card with two operation modes; Gaming Mode and OC Mode. The default, lower power, Gaming Mode offers core clocks set at 1190MHz base, and 1291MHz boost. OC Mode turns up the power to offer a 1216MHz base clock speed and 1317MHz boost. Memory clocks are improved over reference and you will find that this new STRIX has a memory clock of 7.2GHz.
To power this card ASUS has fitted 2x 8pin connectors and there is a 14 Phase PWM onboard. For stability, endurance and reliability ASUS has used its Super Alloy Power II technology in building this card. Furthermore ASUS Auto Extreme production techniques should contribute to reliability and quality.
ASUS has adopted a dual slot design with the Bitspower waterblock added to the card with an overall matt black finish with red highlights. RGB LED lighting adds to the visual appeal of the card, via a cutout STRIX logo, and lighting on the water block. The card's lighting effects, as well as its clock speed tweaking and game-casting abilities are accessed via the ASUS Gaming Booster control panel.
Pricing is said to be $899, a significant premium over a stock variant ($649). It is a notably late addition to the range with Nvidia close to revealing its next generation of cards at GTC 2016.
